The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations in North America.
In Canada, the First Nations are the predominant indigenous peoples in Canada south of the Arctic Circle. Those in the Arctic area are distinct and known as Inuit. The Métis, another distinct ethnicity, developed after European contact and relations primarily between First Nations people and Europeans. There are 634 recognized First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia.
In Canada, an Indian band or band, sometimes referred to as a First Nation band or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subject to the Indian Act. Bands are typically small groups of people: the largest in the country, the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation had 22,294 members in September 2005, and many have a membership below 100 people. Each First Nation is typically represented by a band council chaired by an elected chief, and sometimes also a hereditary chief. As of 2013, there were 614 bands in Canada. Membership in a band is controlled in one of two ways: for most bands, membership is obtained by becoming listed on the Indian Register maintained by the government. As of 2013, there were 253 First Nations which had their own membership criteria, so that not all Status Indians are members of a band.
The First Nation has a registered population of 2171 people as of November 2005 [permanent dead link]. Approximately 1036 members of the First Nation live on-reserve, and approximately 1135 live off-reserve.
In biology, a population is all the organisms of the same group or species, which live in a particular geographical area, and have the capability of interbreeding. The area of a sexual population is the area where inter-breeding is potentially possible between any pair within the area, and where the probability of interbreeding is greater than the probability of cross-breeding with individuals from other areas.
The First Nation is affiliated with the Saskatoon Tribal Council, along with six other First Nations.
The Saskatoon Tribal Council is a tribal council in the Treaty 6 Territory representing seven First Nation band governments in the province of Saskatchewan. Its head offices are located in the city of Saskatoon.
The First Nation takes its name from the name of its first chief, Chief Mistawasis. Mistawasis, or "Big Child" in English, was the first person to sign Treaty 6 in 1876.
Mistawasis born as Pierre Belanger was also known as “Piwaspiskomostos”, and “Mistahi Awas Asis, or Mistawasis”. He was a Chief of the Sak-kaw-wen-o-wak Plains Cree, notable for his role as the leader of his people during the signing of Treaty 6 in 1876. He was born circa 1796 to a French father, Bernard Belanger, and a Nakoda mother, Kakakewachin near Slave Lake in what is now the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Due to the dwindling buffalo population caused by excessive hunting, he was forced to look for new strategies to ensure the survival of his people and their culture. The loss of the buffalo threatened his people and he believed that the only way to save his people would be to negotiate with the Canadian Government. He held great influence over his people and it was due to this influence that he, and his close ally Ahtahkakoop, were able to argue successfully for the adoption of Treaty 6 by his fellow Cree. Mistawasis made history as the first signatory of Treaty 6. After the treaty was signed he remained an ally of the Canadian government until his death.
Treaty 6 is the sixth of seven numbered treaties that were signed by the Canadian Crown and various First Nations between 1871 and 1877. Specifically, Treaty 6 is an agreement between the Crown and the Plains and Woods Cree, Assiniboine, and other band governments at Fort Carlton and Fort Pitt. Key figures, representing the Crown, involved in the negotiations were Alexander Morris, Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories; James McKay, The Minister of Agriculture for Manitoba; and W.J. Christie, the Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. Chief Mistawasis and Chief Ahtahkakoop represented the Carlton Cree.
Marion R. Buller is a First Nations jurist in British Columbia, serving as the Chief Commissioner for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. A member of the Mistawasis First Nation, she was the first First Nations woman to be appointed to the Provincial Court of British Columbia in 1994, and presided in courts throughout B.C. She was instrumental in establishing the First Nations Courts of British Columbia in 2006 and the Aboriginal Family Healing Court in 2016. Buller served as President of the Indigenous Bar Association and served as Director of the B.C. Law Court Society, B.C. Law Foundation, B.C. Police Commission and the B.C. Mediators Roster. Buller has lectured and written numerous articles and papers about aboriginal law, criminal law, family law and human rights.
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